Tom Harmon WW II
Dog Fight Over
China
P-38 "Lightning" claims a
Japanese "Zero" by Rene
Gagnon (Courtesy of
Assonet Art)
On the
morning of Oct 30, 1943, eight P-38 Lightnings set
out
for a bombing raid against the Japanese docks at Kiukiang, China on the
Yangtze River. Earlier that morning, Intelligence reports
indicated that two Japanese Zero's
had been circling the target
area. This news indicated that the four dive bombers would have
no problem raiding the docks while the other four Lightnings provided
"fighter protection." The plan was to come up the river and pick
off any boats they saw. If there were no boats on the river,
their objectives would be the rice "go-downs," which are big grain
storehouses, and the gasoline dump at the Japanese airfield at
Kiukiang. As they approached their
target everything looked calm and peaceful. Lt.
Harmon and three others were assigned to "fighter protection."
Captain Enslen set the course. Captain Bob Schultz and Lieutenant
Jordan Robbins began to weave over the dive bombers, and Lieutenants
Thomas Taylor and Harmon would follow suit. The dive bombers had
gone in at about six thousand feet and they would stay at about eight
thousand feet protecting them. As Kiukiang came into sight, they
saw that all the streets were cleared and that there was no sign of any
activity on the ground. That was a bad sign. It meant that
the Japanese had been warned!
P-38 "Lightnings" in formation,
unknown
location, circa 1943,
(Harmon Family Photo Collection)
A large transport steamer was sitting on the docks just off the harbor
of the town. It was an ideal target. The dive bombers
started in on their runs. Suddenly, the mike button clicked and
Schultz's voice said, "Six Zeros at three o'clock!" Intelligence
had only reported two! The dive bombers had started their runs as
Harmon spotted the six Zeros off his right wing a thousand feet above
him. Schultz called out his warning and Harmon released his belly
tanks and cocked up on his left wing to look behind him. Coming
down from above were six more Zeros. Twelve Zeros against four
Lightnings! Harmon punched on his mike button and called out,
"Six more Zeros at nine o'clock!" However, by then, Schultz,
Robbins and Taylor were headed up into the first Zeros that Schultz had
called out.
Map
of Kiukiang, China,
circa 1943
(A
Different Kind of War)
Harmon turned into the other six Zeros behind him and fired
a short burst. Reluctant to take the P-38 at "head-on range," the
six Zeros broke their formation into groups of threes instead of
twos. The leading three turned left and dove alone. Harmon
was lined up with him and followed him into the dive. Harmon
fired his machine guns. The first shot tore the canopy off the
Zero and his motor burst into flames. Harmon finished the job
with his cannon button, and the Zero went straight down. The sky
was filled with the irregular intervals of the sharp "brrrrrrr-upp,
brup, brr-uup" from the machine guns and the sounds from the ships'
motors in the massive dog fight.
The bombers were still on their
target so
Harmon climbed back up to look for another fight. He spotted a
climbing Zero coming up from the lake below. Harmon's high
airspeed allowed him to close in on the Zero before the Japanese pilot
saw him. Harmon fired a short burst. The shot caught him
close to the fuselage and a part of his wing tore off. The Zero
blew up. Suddenly, Harmon heard a sharp ring against the armor
plating behind him. Immediately, a second shot hit the armor
under his seat. A third shot came up right between his legs and
blew the gas primer out. Harmon's legs were blown off the pedals
and his pant legs had caught fire (Latter he would notice that his pant
legs were blown off at the knee). Then the gas primer completely
blew out and started a fire on the gas line in the cockpit. He
reached inside to stamp the fire out with his hands but to no
success. The fire began to grow in intensity. By then his
ship was in a ninety degree dive straight for the lake. Unsure of
his altitude he loosened his safety belt and jettisoned the
canopy. The terrific rate of speed the ship had built up in its
dive had caused a great suction in the roasting cockpit, and Harmon was
torn out of the ship.
At once, Harmon pulled the ripcord
and his chute opened up with a jerk. However, Harmon
soon realized that he had pulled his chute too soon (Every pilot was
aware that the Japanese had machine-gunned pilots after they had bailed
out, so the correct move
was to pull a delayed fall and open your chute as late as
possible). Harmon watched Schultz go by with two Zeros on his
tail. He then looked off to his left and saw a Zero circling
him. Directly opposite him, another Zero began to circle as
well. Harmon decided to play dead. He folded over in his harness
and hung limp. He heard machine gun bursts but none of the 7.7 mm rounds hit him. Severely burned, Lt. Harmon landed in a
lake below, 350 miles behind enemy lines.
